Candle light
by The Sacred Pandapuff
Summary: Christmas fic. Ed comes to the headquarters to turn in the report and ends up spending his Christmas with Roy. Friendship!RoyEd


A Christmas fic for all of my readers! It wasn't supposed to be this... odd, but well, that's how it ended up. And it was supposed to be Parental!RoyEd but somehow it ended up more like Friendship!RoyEd. 

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll see if I can write another Christmas oneshot before Christmas. If I can't, this'll be it.

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. **

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**CANDLE LIGHT **

_Damn the rain_, Edward Elric thought as he sprinted quickly to the headquarters, covering his head with the most recent report he had been called to turn in but what was probably already ruined so badly by the water that he would have to rewrite it again. His hair was sticky and heavy and the coat he had on was already soaked as he finally arrived to the door and started to turn the doorknob… which was stuck. Ah, great!

It was already night and dark and the rain wasn't comforting him at all. Actually, it seemed like it might start thundering any second. He snarled as he started to turn the knob again but didn't manage. As he got angry with it he slammed his hands to the windows in it, accidentally ripping the wet paper. He sighed and knocked the door, feeling like an idiot as he didn't even see anybody. This was just his luck.

Ed threw the ripped papers to the ground and took the knob in both of his hands and let out a growl as he turned as strongly as he could, still failing opening the door. He heard thundering and quickly turned with slightly widened eyes. It hadn't flashed so he would've noticed it. Thank god. That was when a lightning cut the air, sending cold shivers up his spine. He counted until he heard the thunder. Alright, it wasn't that near yet. He turned back to the door and sighed. Hopefully no one would catch him in action, he thought as he crashed his metal hand through the glass, shattering it all over. He quickly slipped in, taking the papers from the ground and clapped his hands in order to transmute the glass back. As he was finished he squeezed his braid and coat to get at least some of the wetness away. He turned and headed for Colonel Mustang's office.

He growled as he saw no one in the headquarters. Everyone had probably already left. He wondered why but couldn't come up with the explanation so he decided to stay on guard. Hopefully Mustang wouldn't be just playing another trick on him. He'd hear about it if he did, Ed decided as he opened the door and saw the man behind his desk, sipping coffee. Ed snarled.

"You have a lot of guts to order me to come here to turn in the report at this time", he growled to the man as he threw the ripped pieces of paper in Roy's desk, noticing that the rain had made the ink get too messy to read. He scratched his neck tiredly. This was going to be yet another long night.

Roy sighed as he saw the paper. "Fullmetal… That's not readable. You'll have to redo it." 

"At this time!? You must be kidding!" Ed complained as he crashed to the chair. "I'm really not in the mood for writing it again. It's your fault it's ruined, you asked me to turn it in when it was raining!"

Another lightning cut the air, seeming like it went just behind the office's windows. Ed jumped slightly but tried to hide it by leaning forward and positioning his hands on his thighs. Roy looked out of the window too after seeing the light flash in the boy's eyes. The lights went off.

"Damn it…" Roy swore as he straightened up in his chair. Ed tried to let his eyes adjust in the dark as fast as he could, trying to find out if there was an attacker but heard nothing. Roy got up.

"Where are you going?" he asked quickly. The idea of being alone in the dark at the same time it was thundering was frightening, he had to admit it. Every thunder in the middle of the night reminded him of the transmutation he had committed when he had been just a child. Even now, he could still see the… _thing_ in the shadows, eyes glowing, the fragmentary and painful breaths shaking its half-dead form. He felt a little nauseous as he tried to keep his eyes focused on the tall and living figure in front of him. Roy patted his shoulder as he walked by.

"Taking some candles. We can't see in the dark, can we?" he answered and opened a cupboard, taking out several candles and positioning them on the table, giving one to Ed and offering him a match from a pack. Ed took it gratefully and they lightened up the three candles, trying not to set Roy's paperwork in fire.

"Fullmetal, you don't have to write the report today. Why don't you go back to the dorms and celebrate a little with Alphonse?" Roy said as he put his own pens away. He took a better look at the shivering boy. "I'll take you a ride. Take off that coat, you'll get sick. And change when you get home."

Ed shook his head. "Why would we celebrate? Have I forgotten something?" he asked curiously and Roy shook his head with a smile on his face.

"Yes, apparently you _have_ forgotten something. Which reminds me that I have something for you", he said as he lifted his bag on the table and took out a present, making Ed's eyes widen.

"It's… it's not my birthday, you know", he said as he looked up. Roy put the present in Ed's hands as he kneeled down and put his right hand on his shoulder.

"I know. But it's Christmas. You usually give presents and celebrate at Christmas", Roy said. "Don't tell me you've never heard of it."

Ed blushed. "I have. Just forgot about it, that's all. I'm not religious so I don't really give it much thought", he answered. "…Thanks."

Roy got up again. "I don't really think of it as a religion celebration. For me it's more like… a day of giving and getting. A day when I celebrate the fact that I'm alive and have people close to me."

"I haven't really thought about that", Ed said. "Not bad, though."

Roy threw his black coat to Ed who grabbed it, looking surprised. Roy smiled. "Take your own off. I'm not kidding when I'm telling you that you're going to get sick."

Ed nodded and took off his damp coat, covering himself with the warm and dry black one which was way too big for him. It trailed the ground as he walked and he had to pull the sleeves pretty up before he could see his hands. He threw the red on his shoulder and grabbed a candle and the present he had been given. Thinking about the fact that he had gotten a present from someone else than Al made it really hard not to smile. It gave him a lot of feeling. It was like a promise that if someday he'd disappear, there was someone who would notice and put effort while trying to find him. There was someone who would grief after him. Even if it was the useless bastard.

Ed followed the Colonel to the front door which he tried to open but sighed. "Damn, it's stuck. What did you do with it, Fullmetal?"

Ed pouted. "I did nothing! It was like that when I got here."

"Then how did you open it?" Roy asked. Ed blushed even harder.

"…Crashed my hand through the glass to break it, got in and fixed the glass", he answered, admitting his defeat. Roy laughed.

"Sounds like something you'd do. Well, you can repeat the action. I'll make a note that it's broken tomorrow", Roy said. Ed looked up at him.

"Are you telling me that I _can _break it?" he asked disbelievingly. Roy glared at him.

"Only if it doesn't open. And don't you dare to break it when it actually _does_", he said. "And what would Christmas be like if there wouldn't be a little breaking the places?"

"A dull day", Ed answered as he offered Roy the candle and crashed his automail through the glass and yanked it up violently, making the glass shatter. They stepped out and Ed clapped his hands and fixed the glass again. Roy smiled.

"Not bad."

"Not bad at all. Normal stuff, I do this every other day so I've gotten quite good at it", Ed said, the raindrops hitting his face again. "Where's your car?"

"Over here", Roy said and they ran to it, Ed jumping in immediately as Roy opened the locks. Roy stepped in too and started the vehicle.

"I hope you aren't breaking _that_ door every other day", he said seriously as they started to drive. Ed turned to him. But Roy snapped his fingers and Ed was glad that he didn't have his usual gloves on. "Seatbelt."

Ed rolled his eyes as he closed it. He wasn't really into using it but he apparently had no other choice while driving with the Colonel. He turned to him again. "Are you celebrating Christmas with someone?"

Roy shook his head. "No. Everyone's busy and I don't want to bother Maes. I'll just let him spend it with his family like he always does. That's the way it's supposed to go."

"Do you want company?" Ed asked. Roy glanced at him briefly.

"Company wouldn't kill me I guess", he said. Ed smiled.

"Al isn't waiting for me to come in a few hours. I'll just say that the report was ruined and you made me do it again", Ed said as he watched at the raindrops hitting the front glass of the car. The candles had gone out as the wet drops had killed the warm flames. Ed sighed, missing the playful little lights. Roy chuckled.

"I have more of those at home if you're interested. But if you lie that I made you write the report today, what about the one you're turning in tomorrow?" he asked. Ed growled.

"Bastard. I'm offering you company and you worry about a stupid report which you don't read anyway."

"Who says that I don't read it? And it's military business, you have to turn it in some day", Roy said seriously, stopping at the red lights.

"Mmh. I'll just tell him that you made me do it twice. He's buying it. You're enough of a bastard to do that", Ed said as the light changed to green and they started driving again.

Red and green. Now that he thought about it they were the colours of Christmas. And in a way, yellow was too. More like in a golden shade, but it was anyway. He couldn't believe he had forgotten about the whole stupid day.

They pulled over as they arrived to a street of small houses. Ed looked out of Roy's window. "Is that yours?" he asked. The house was decent and it had Christmas lights on the banister. Ed smiled. He hadn't really noticed the lights anywhere before either. Funny, because they were everywhere. They got off the car and ran to the door which Roy opened, letting Ed in at first. The boy sneezed as they stepped in.

"It's a pity we didn't get a white Christmas. Now it's all wet and… thunder", Roy said flatly as Ed looked around. "You want a cup of coffee?"

"Nah, I don't drink coffee", Ed answered as he put the red and black coats to jacket holder. Roy was already in the kitchen, lightening candles up.

"What about hot chocolate then?" he asked, earning a nod from the teen who sat down nervously. After a while they were both sipping their cups of hot chocolate, warming themselves up a little. Especially Ed found it really pleasing as he felt like he was frozen and his wet hair had gone cold too.

"You can open the present, you know", Roy said to him, making him look up with a slight blush.

"I don't know if I want you to see me opening it", he answered truthfully but Roy just smiled, leaning on his hands.

"Just open it. It's not that bad. And you're stuck with me now anyway", he said and Ed grinned as he took the packet in his hands again. It was pretty heavy. And it wasn't extremely small either, thought it wasn't a huge box like some kids got at Christmas. He hesitantly opened it and gasped.

A book! A book about Xingese Alchemy! Oh, this was so interesting, he thought as he smiled, running his hand on the cover, trying to hold back laughter. Where had the bastard found this?

"You like it?" Roy asked, making him look up again.

"Yes. Yeah, thank you. Next year I'll try to get something nice to you too", he answered as he forced himself to put the present on the table to prevent him from reading it. Roy smiled.

"Dying to read it?" he asked. Ed nodded with a laugh. Hey, wait, since when had he actually laughed in presence of this bastard if it wasn't a malicious laugh?

"Ed… I'm really glad you came here tonight", Roy said. "You're the member of my crew that I spend the least time with. You're never really around and I don't really get a hold of your train of thoughts at times. I was just wondering if you knew that no matter that, I really care."

"'Bout what?" Ed asked dumbly.

"About you. And you brother too. Tell him I said hi, alright?" Roy said as he handed Ed another cup of hot chocolate. Ed blushed furiously.

"What do you mean you care about us?" he asked.

"I mean, that if something bad was to happen to you, I'd grief. If you'd rely on me on something important, I'd stand by your side. If you'd disappear, I'd still remember. That's caring", he answered. Ed blinked.

"Ehh… Thanks I guess?" he said. "Good to know _someone_ would do that. Lately I've been so busy that all my relationships with everyone except for Al have short of… died", he continued. "It's a little depressing."

The candles on the table flickered warmly. Ed felt and odd feeling clinging to his chest. What was this?

"Anyway, it's Christmas. We should be doing something less serious. You got any ideas?" Roy asked. Ed looked out of the window to see the rain had stopped.

"You don't want to know", he said, grinning maliciously. Roy sweat dropped.

An hour later they were throwing rocks to headquarters windows. Roy laughed.

"Now I understand who vandalizes the building once in a while!"

Ed threw a big one at the Fuhrer's window but was disappointed as it bounced back. "Yeah. Even the Fuhrer got himself bomb-proof windows."

They laughed. It was fun to have a Christmas full of action for once.

The candles flickered in the ground as rocks flied.


End file.
